|
Putnam Valley High School Club Looks at Local History
When somebody once said that when you pick a career, you should always do what you love, Vin DeGregorio must have been paying attention. The Putnam Valley High School history teacher (and JV lacrosse coach) clearly has a passion for history. "I think it was my grandfather who inspired my love for all things historical," he said. "He told stories about the past and made it come alive."
Since the high school opened seven years ago, Mr. DeGregorio has been sharing that love of history with his US history classes, and inspiring them, as well. So much so, that when a group of students came to him and said they were interested in learning more about the history of the town of Putnam Valley, he jumped at the idea and founded the PVHS History Club, which now has about 15 members.
A native of Yorktown, DeGregorio was already familiar with the area when he began teaching at PVHS. Working with the club has brought him and his students into contact with the considerable resources of the tiny Putnam Valley Historical Society, located at the corner of Church and Peekskill Hollow Roads in a one-room schoolhouse. Historical Society Director Lisa Delfino and her Board of Directors do the best they can with a limited budget to provide photographs, historical records, and other memorabilia to the public in a meaningful way. It was a high school senior, Jackson Gilman-Forlini, who worked there as a summer intern and encouraged some fellow students to join him in approaching "Mr. D" about starting the club. Jackson is now a liaison between the school district, the Town, and the Historical Society.
The "history bug" is infectious, and another community member, Donald Pagani, who has a son at PVHS, recently framed and donated a 19thcentury map of Putnam Valley to the high school. It now hangs proudly in the wide corridor outside the school's Performing Arts Center. Eventually, some of the club's activities will center around an analysis of the map, but the current focus is on the genealogy of some PV family names, and in early November the club visited the Society to begin its research.
| Click ads below
for larger version
System and Method for Display
Ads have a Patent Pending.
Click Here for More Information
|
